UNCLE FRANK (FUN LOVIN CRIMINALS) at The Fleece in Bristol on 19 January 2017
Uncle Frank will be playing at The Fleece in Bristol on Thursday 19 January 2017.
This is Uncle Frank, the band from the UK. We make the best kind of music…. music with soul, funk, rage and love! Multi-instrumentalists and producers Frank Benbini (also one third of The Fun Lovin’ Criminals) & Naim Cortazzi are back with the explosive new single ‘MAXIMUM RESPECT’ out on Nov 13th 2015 The Daily Express wrote “The world needs this kind of music – because it’s real and self-made, feel-good and original.” With National Radio plays from Huey Morgan on BBC6 Music and BBC Radio 2 and A-listed on Regional Radio throughout the UK, the stage is set for Uncle Frank to make big waves in 2016 with features in The Sun, Spindle Magazine, Music-News.com and The Daily Star. Uncle Frank took CMJ music festival by storm in October 2015 at Fat Baby in New York described as ‘The best Band at CMJ without a doubt’ by Spindle Magazine. Touring with the legendary UB40 in America, Frank and Naim duetted with Ali Campbell and UB40 at New Jersey’s Performing Arts Centre on Nov 2nd singing a reggae version Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ which is on the Radio Riddler album ‘Purple Reggae’ (produced by Frank and Fast from FLC) and featuring vocals from Ali Cambell, Sinead O’Connor, Suggs from Madness, Citizen Cope and Beverley Knight as well as Frank Benbini and Naim Cortazzi Uncle Frank’s second album ‘LOVE LION’ is tipped to be the bands breakthrough album and its coming soon!
The bands’ label debut album ‘SMILES FOR MILES’ released in May 2104 was Best described by Penny Black Music, ‘It is proving impossible to keep this out of my CD player at the moment. A fantastic album’. The pair’s love of music has led them to create an album that is an eclectic mix of soul, pop, jazz, funk, old-school hip hop and easy listening. Taking three-months to record ‘Smiles for Miles’ in their home studio, Benbini and Cortazzi have arranged, played the majority of instruments themselves and engineered the whole album. Uncle Frank were signed to an unprecedented 3 album deal in 2013 by MITA Records. Uncle Frank’s debut label album ‘Smiles for Miles’ The first single ‘STEP INTO MY ROOM’ was supported by an innovative tour of fans houses, performing concerts in their living rooms. This was featured by BBC 1 Television Evening News which reached an audience of 600000 viewers, The bands second single ‘SOMETHIN’ SOMETHIN’ accompanied by a robot animation video was featured by The Daily Express “Frank Benbini and Naim Cortazzi, have spent years making music and their remarkable output ranges from soul to funk and old-school hip hop”. Frank and Naim embarked upon a lengthy acoustic tour of universities in The Coffee House Sessions picking up new fans and playlists on the way. The bands 3rd single ‘DANCE INSTRUCTOR’ was accompanied by a deluxe version of album ‘Smiles For Miles’ including all the bands’ quirky and funk filled videos to date. The Gay Times premiered the Flashdance inspired video which hit over 100, 000 views on youtube.
The bands self produced music is mixed by Grammy Award winning mixer and producer Tim Latham (Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, The Rolling Stones and Erykah Badu). Benbini first met Latham during a Lou Reed session at Quad Studios in New York. They immediately hit it off, and when it came to mixing the Uncle Frank album, Latham believed in the project so much, he committed to it before Uncle Frank even secured a record deal.
Tickets are £8 including booking fees.